—Michael Lyles, B1Daily

Governments across America routinely promise to open public contracting to minority-owned businesses. They create certification programs, announce participation goals and promote supplier diversity. But the numbers often tell a less impressive story: minority businesses may be invited to the table without receiving a proportionate share of the money.

Minnesota provides a striking example. A 2025 disparity study examined more than 150,000 contracts and subcontracts worth $31 billion across 16 public entities. Minority- and women-owned businesses received about 9% of contract dollars, even though an availability analysis suggested they could reasonably have received about 22%.

New Jersey found a similar gap. Minority-owned businesses represented nearly 28% of available construction firms in one category examined by the state’s disparity study, yet received only 3.69% of the relevant prime-contract dollars. In goods and services, minority firms represented 23.56% of available businesses but received only 4.24% of contract dollars.

Even where participation looks better on paper, contract value can reveal another story. In New York City, M/WBEs represented 61.8% of new contract registrations and purchase orders covered by certain participation goals in FY2023, but those contracts represented only 9.8% of their total value. Black-owned M/WBEs received just 1.16% of that contract value.

Federal numbers provide another revealing comparison. The federal government set a goal under the Biden administration of eventually directing 15% of contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses. Yet Black-owned businesses specifically received about $9.83 billion, or only 1.54% of federal prime-contract dollars, in FY2024. Small disadvantaged business and Black-owned business classifications are not identical, so those figures cannot be compared directly, but they demonstrate why broad diversity statistics can obscure how individual groups actually fare.

The lesson is simple: contracting promises should be judged by dollars awarded, not press releases issued.

Governments should publish procurement results by ownership group, contract size, prime versus subcontract status and agency. Otherwise, impressive participation goals can coexist with minority businesses receiving smaller contracts while the largest government awards continue flowing elsewhere.

If minority contracting programs are supposed to create economic opportunity, the real measurement is not how many businesses become certified.

It is who actually gets the contracts, and how much those contracts are worth.

—Michael Lyles, B1Daily